The present invention relates to a door lock assembly for a vehicle with a key less door lock mechanism which can lock a vehicle door by an operation of a lock knob without a key operation, and can perform an operation of the lock knob only at a time of performing an opening operation of the door.
An example of a door lock assembly of this type is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 7-54528. This is constructed such as to include a door opening lever which can be associated with a lift lever so as to engage and disengage a pawl with a latch and a locking lever for establishing and releasing a lock state of the door.
In this conventional assembly, an opening is formed in the door opening lever and a oblong hole is also formed in the lift lever, and a slide pin inserting the opening and the oblong hole is connected to the locking lever through the link, so that a position of the slide pin with respect to the opening is changed in accordance with the operation of the door opening lever and the locking lever, thereby engaging and disengaging the pawl and the latch with each other and engaging and disengaging the connection between the door opening lever and the lift lever.
However, in accordance with the conventional assembly mentioned above, since the slide pin is supported to the locking lever, a link for connecting the slide pin and the locking lever is required in order to allow the slide pin to move in correspondence to the rotational operation of the door opening lever. Accordingly, a number of the parts are increased, so that it is disadvantageous in cost. Further, it is necessary to dispose the connecting portion between the locking lever and the link on a pivot of the door opening lever and the lift lever, so that it is disadvantageous in saving space.